Abstract

This study explores the effects of class conflicts on civil war duration. Colombian civil war, the FARC insurgency, is examined from a class-based perspective. I argue that class-based civil wars last longer than non-class based civil wars such as identity conflicts because class conflicts have deeper roots embedded in the social, political, and economic aspects of the society. Through the examination of existing theories in the civil war duration literature, I propose four arguments in the context of class conflict. First, size of the bargaining range affects the conflict duration in terms of clash of interests and divergent preferences among the parties which belong to the opposing classes. Second, commitment problems are likely to occur in class-based conflicts because the parties constitute an existential threat to each other which prevents credible commitment. Third, poverty, exploitation, and ideological attachment increase the participation and support to the insurgency that prolongs the conflict. Lastly, external interventions increase the conflict duration considering the role of number and quality of veto players. Results show that size of the bargaining range is smaller, commitment problems occur, ideological attachment increases the participation and support, and external interventions are determinative in the Colombian conflict.